Freak thunderstorms erupt across inland valleys early Monday morning

By Reginald Stanley. Posted August 19, 2013, 6:42 AM.

Many inland residents experienced a rude awakening early Monday morning, with constant lightning and loud crashes of thunder beginning around 4 AM near Murrieta. This was the result of monsoonal moisture in the area the previous day, which was confined to the mountains and deserts, and was not expected to drift any further west at the time.

Early Monday morning, a strong thunderstorm cell materialized near the Temecula-Murrieta city limits and drifted north from there. The thunderstorm became particularly severe upon reaching northern Murrieta and Wildomar. Widespread lightning and thunder, as well has short bouts of very heavy rain, were reported in the area between 4 and 5 AM. The cell maintained its strength and passed through the communities of Lake Elsinore, Riverside and San Bernardino before fizzling out. Other thunderstorms are continuing inland this morning as of this writing, and are now included in today's forecast. Additional thunderstorms also occurred in the Mojave Desert near Victorville.

Several WeatherCurrents stations did record measurable rainfall Monday morning. Wildomar recorded the highest total with 0.10", followed by Northwest Murrieta with 0.05", San Bernardino with 0.03", and Riverside (Canyon Crest) with 0.02". Peter Michas recorded a notable total of 0.17" in East Highland.

The Anza, California weather pages are a service of WeatherCurrents. The Anza Valley is southwestern Riverside County, east of Temecula and Aguanga, south of Mount San Jacinto and west of Mount Santa Rosa.